Dancers in local ballet tell tale of sisterly love
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on March 5, 2017 12:09 AM
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Jade Jordan as Elsa, left, and Martie Rose as Anna rehearse a scene from "The Frozen Heart Ballet."
Emily Thorne and Martie Rose hope to portray the essence of sisterly love when they dance as Elsa and Anna in "The Frozen Heart Ballet."
It will be performed by members of Goldsboro Ballet this month at the Paramount Theatre.
Emily said the most challenging part of the ballet is learning the dances for her part as Elsa because Elsa is in most of the scenes in the ballet.
"And I have to know the correct emotion to show in the different parts of the dance," she said. "There are so many emotions Elsa has to portray to the audience."
But for Emily, there is a fun side to the part-- getting up on stage and dancing to the most well known song from the movie "Let It Go."
Mary Franklin, co-director of Goldsboro ballet, wanted to do "The Frozen Heart Ballet" because she saw the enthusiasm in her own young children and nieces when the movie first came.
"I just saw the magic and how they related to the music," Mrs. Franklin said. "My young children could listen to the orchestrated scores, and they could tell you exactly what was happening on that score of music."
When planning the ballet, one of the problems that the directors ran into was finding orchestrated versions of the songs. But at the last minute right before rehearsals started, they found a violin version that works perfectly, Mrs. Franklin said.
Mrs. Franklin said there is so much passion underlying the story, even down to the costumes.
"We worked really hard sketching the costumes for Olaf and Sven," she said. "Olaf will have the classical headpiece.
"We built our own Sven. His headpiece is absolutely fabulous."
Mrs. Franklin said she wanted to do the marshmallow monster, but was hesitant at first.
"Spencer Jameson wanted to do it using stilts," she said.
"Spencer has learned to use the stilts to jump, dance and chase the characters around," said ballet co-director Peggy Wingate. "He actually picks up some of them and throws them."
Mrs. Franklin said that costumer Melissa Dawkins made an 8-foot marshmallow monster that even lights up.
"We didn't want to make it too scary because the ballet is aimed at children," Mrs. Franklin said. "But at the same time, we wanted it to have the same effects as the movie."
Mrs. Franklin said the most difficult costumes to sew were the fur costumes for the wolves, ice harvesters, Sven and even Christoph's outfit.
"They made troll headpieces to die for," Mrs. Wingate said.
Mrs. Wingate said for the troll scene, the ballet has rocks that come to life.
"One of my favorite sections is at the coronation, when we have the winter ball," Mrs. Franklin said. "You have the Duke of Weaselton who starts doing this little jig and all the guys do this fun dance with him."
Although the ballet is close to the movie, there are parts that are different.
"My own daughter, Bella, is so upset with me because I have Elsa climb on top of the snow mound during the opening scene where little Elsa and Anna are in the ballroom and Elsa is making the snow," Mrs. Franklin said. "My daughter told me that was not correct. She said it's Anna who's jumping from snow mound to snow mound. I told her we are doing this onstage, we do not have the magic of the movies."
Mrs. Franklin said at first, she wondered about some of the twists in the story.
"Like Christoph, you could tell he and Anna love each other, so why don't they just kiss," she said. "But then I love the fact that it wasn't meant to be a love story as between a man and a woman.
"It was meant to be a true familylove, a love of sisterhood. Just seeing the sisters finally coming together and the trust and the hurdles they have to leap over through life, it does relate to anybody who has a sister."
Martie is excited to dance the part of Anna in the ballet.
"If I had to pick a part, it would be Anna because of the way she is and her personality," she said. "She is childlike but has a maturity about her that I can connect with."
She said the most fun part for her is dancing with Elsa because the sisterly bond comes through, not only in the ballet, but also in real life as the dancers themselves bond.
Mrs. Franklin hopes that those in the audience will get to feel the connection with family, too.
"I hope they realize how important family is," she said. "Sometimes we think we're doing what's best, but sometimes it pulls us farther apart. But in the end, if we depend on family and we pull together, that's what keeps us strong."
"The Frozen Heart Ballet" will be performed March 17 and 18 at 7 p.m. and March 19 at 3 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre. Tickets are $16 for adults and $12 for children 18 and younger.
During intermission, there will be a dessert buffet for $5. And T-shirts and tank tops will be for sale.
There will be school synopsis shows March 17 at 9:30 and 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. at the Paramount for school children. Tickets are $5.